Coal Drops Yard
victorian rail yards, beautifully reborn
A reborn Victorian coal depot behind King's Cross, free to wander, with curving canalside arches, independent shops and a fountain square where a thousand jets dance.
Free to visit · King's Cross · King's Cross St Pancras · N1C 4AB
Opening: Open access · shops and fountains have their own hours
The land behind King's Cross was a forgotten tangle of Victorian rail and coal infrastructure until a vast regeneration turned it into one of London's most enjoyable free places to wander. At its heart is Coal Drops Yard, where the old buildings that once received the capital's coal have been reshaped, by the designer Thomas Heatherwick, into a curving street of shops under sweeping new roofs.
Right beside it, Granary Square opens onto the Regent's Canal, and its great draw is a fountain of more than a thousand individually lit jets that children and overheated adults run straight through on warm days. The wide canalside steps double as a free grandstand for watching the water and the boats.
You do not have to spend anything to enjoy it. The architecture, the canal, the fountains and the pocket parks tucked around the edges, including a tiny park inside an old gasholder frame, are all free, making it a brilliant unhurried hour by the water.
Getting there: A few minutes walk north from King's Cross and St Pancras, following the signs up to the canal.
Best time to go: A warm day for the Granary Square fountains, or evening when the canalside lights up and the bars fill out.
Insider tip: Walk through to the round Gasholder Park beyond Coal Drops Yard, a lawn ringed by the cast-iron frame of a Victorian gasholder that almost nobody but locals knows about. The Granary Square fountains are the spot to be on a hot day, and they are completely free.
Official site: https://www.kingscross.co.uk
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide